(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to applicators for applying application liquids such as liquid rouge, liquid foundation, creamy makeup and the like.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
In general, the applicators for applying application liquids such as liquid cosmetics and the like are constructed such that the application liquid is pushed out from a reservoir disposed in the barrel to the delivery port of the application body arranged at a barrel front and can be applied to an object such as the skin and the like.
Since the application body, especially when used for cosmetics, is demanded to present a suitable contact feeling to be applied to the skin, the application body is generally formed of resin.
In the applicator of this kind, when the application body is formed as a thick-walled molding, there may occur the problem of sink marks appearing in the application body due to shrinkage after molding. Sink marks appear as unwanted thin-walled areas and voids, causing production defects, hence are wanted to be prevented.
Also, in order to stabilize forming of the application body, provision of reduced thickness parts can be considered.
When a hollow application body is used, use of a container including a pressurizing and extruding mechanism using a piston or the like can be considered. The present applicator has proposed a Patent Document 1 as a liquid applicator of this type.
However, in the liquid applicator with a hollow application body of this kind, there occur cases where the liquid is left over inside the application body without being able to squeeze out the last drops of liquid.
As a measure to prevent the liquid from being left over, there has been a known configuration (see Patent Document 2) in which a communication passage for leading the application liquid into the application body is made thin. However, in this case, the communication passage becomes long and narrow, there is a risk of the liquid clogging in the communication passage if the application liquid dries up due to cases such that non-use period of the applicator becomes long.
As another measure for prevention against liquid residue, there has been proposals of providing a spacer inside the interior space of the application body (see Patent Documents 3 and 4). However, the conventional spacer configuration still entails the risk of the liquid being left over after the piston reaches the advance limit.
Further, in the case where a spacer is used, there occurs the problem that the spacer becomes conspicuous, spoiling design performance of the applicator if the application body is formed of a transparent material.
Moreover, because the liquid flows through the center of the spacer in the conventional configuration, the joint between the application body and the spacer is required to complicated.